CSA Week 8, Green Theme

Shishito peppers are super duper productive plants and we've been in love with them for the past two seasons.  Growing sweet peppers is kind of tricky in South Florida, but shishitos are not only awesome and packed with flavor, but the plants are hardy and more pest resistant than other sweet peppers.  Shishitos are also unique in that they are a flavorful sweet pepper that is eaten green rather than red.  Most sweet peppers develop their best flavor when they turn colors.  This photo is borrowed from spoonforkbacon.com where we found this classic blistered shishito peppers recipe, featuring the most beautiful photos.

In the shares this week:

The green theme continues with green zucchini.  Zucchini is one of the more common veggies in the western world, but we haven't had a chance to include it in the CSA as much as usual.  In a way even this "common" veggie is a special treat this week.  There are a million ways to cook and eat zucchini!  You can go sweet or salty, raw or cooked, grilled or stewed, baked or fried.  Did you know that zucchini is high in potassium?  According to the American Heart Association, potassium can help control blood pressure because it lessens the harmful effects of salt on your body.  Zucchini is also high in the antioxidant Vitamin C , which may help the lining of your blood cells function better, lowering blood pressure and protecting against clogged arteries.

Celery might just win the health benefits contest. The health benefits of celery are due to the excellent sources of beneficial enzymes and antioxidants. Celery is loaded with essential minerals and vitamins such as folate, potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C and vitamin K.  It is good for cardiovascular health and it's anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties make it become an ideal food for people with high cholesterol levels and blood pressure, as well as heart disease. Celery also has numerous amazing benefits for skin, liver, eye and cognitive health.  Yay for celery! 

First green beans of the season for our CSA.  What took so long?  Green beans are so popular, really easy grow, they are pretty much pest free and they add to the important biodiversity of a small farm, being one of the only edible crops in the legume family which add nutrients back to the soil.  The catch is that harvesting green beans is by far the most tedious job on the farm.  It takes hours to get just a few pounds and there is no short cut or smart trick to it... it has to be done bean by bean.  After years of growing green beans we decided to cut them out of our production and most of the small farmers we know have too.  One of our incubator participants said the other day, "Growing green beans is like having a money tree that only grows pennies!".  All that aside, they are delicious, nutritious, kid friendly, good for a quick meal and not going anywhere as far as the American diet is concerned. 

Kohlrabi is in the cole family, a family of veggies which includes cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and broccoli; can you start to get a sense for it's flavor profile?  This odd veg is pretty popular in other cultures, mostly European.  It's an old world vegetable, like turnips.  The part you eat is the stem; in the case of the kholrabi the stem swells into a round ball with leaves sticking out in every direction.  The inside of the stem is like a glorified broccoli stem, much sweeter and tender than broccoli stem, think juicy and crisp as an apple, but with a broccoli taste.  Anyhow, after peeling the round stem you can simply eat it raw in salads, or cut it into sticks for a crudite.  There are some cooked kohlrabi recipe out there so feel free to google around and try something warm too.  Keep in mind that the leaves of your kohlrabi are also edible and can be used pretty much like kale.  Enjoy!